A senior official in the Iraqi Education Ministry was killed Sunday in an ambush outside his home in Baghdad. It is the second assassination of an Iraqi interim government official in as many days.

Iraq's Education Ministry officials say gunmen fired several rounds at Kamal al-Jarah, the ministry's director-general for cultural relations, as he left his home in northwest Baghdad early Sunday.

Mr. Jarah was taken to a local hospital where he later died of his wounds. The official's wife was with him at the time of the attack but is said to be unhurt.

The attack came only one day after gunmen shot and killed Iraq's most senior career diplomat, 63-year-old deputy foreign minister, Bassam Salih Kubba. Iraqi officials have blamed insurgents loyal to former dictator Saddam Hussein for that attack.

U.S. and Iraqi officials have predicted the upsurge in violence as insurgents seek to undermine public confidence in the interim government before the June 30th transfer of sovereignty.